Presenter: Michael Hyatt
Was CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, a very traditional Publisher, he realized that someone needed to figure out new media, so he jumped in with both feet. Nice – more leaders need to do this!
All the world’s a stage – William Shakespeare… and it’s very true today!
164 million blogs. Wow. 1 million new books published last year. Youtube content … etc. point – there is a LOT of noise being created.
You need a platform. A thing to stand on so you can be heard.
Today’s platforms are made of people. Fans, friends, followers.
He started a blog in 2004, mainly to help him think (he thinks better when he writes).
His blog traffic jumped up hugely. 1st four years, he didn’t have much blog traffic. Huge jump in 2008 (from 700 to 20,000 unique visitors). In 2008, he decided to become consistent – two posts a week.
Thought Twitter was silly, but got his family to join, so he cared about who he followed. And he made his executive team sign up.
Most people quit right before the inflection point. So keep going!
Has a new book out – Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World.
Three Benefits to having a platform:
- Visibility – provides a way for others to see you
- Amplification
- Connection
Build Your Platform:
Plank 1: Start with Wow. The gap between someone’s expectations and experience – that’s where you deliver the wow.
But – balance that with shipping. Consistently deliver your product (be that writing, podcasting, etc). Just do it – even if it feels like it’s not the best thing there.
Plank 2: Prepare to launch. It’s a process, not an event. You are the chief marketing officer, and you have to take responsibility for the outcome. Don’t abdicate. If you are a book author – you are in charge. Blog? You are in charge. Etc.
Plank 3: Build your home base. Social Media Framework.
- Need a Home Base – a place you own and control (i.e., my blog is my Home Base).
- Second element – embassies – social media services that you don’t own or control, but you put regular content there, and send them back to your home base. He has primary and secondary ones.
- Third element – outposts. He uses Google Alerts for this. He listens, and answers those questions when needed.
Plank 4:Â expand your reach. Interruption based marketing (traditional commercials) is dying. Marketing today is sharing. Sharing what you are interested in and passionate about. HE sees a dip in traffic and engagement when he talks about himself.
Plank 5: Engage your tribe. Gave some examples of tribes – Dave Ramsey fans, Harley Davidson fans. Keep comments open. Don’t use those captcha things that are hard to read … don’t make it hard for people to comment.
If you invite people to dinner, and then don’t show up? That’s weird. If you respond to every comment? Also weird.
The 20-to-1 rule. For every withdrawal you make, you need to make about 20 deposits…